Moira

24.

000d, 00h, 00m, 00s

A little perplexed, I watched the brunette casually shrugging the grey, washed-out shirt he was wearing off, my head jerking to my left as soon as I caught a glimpse of his torso.

Cheeks tinting a light pink, my hands fighting with each other as I focused on the shimmering river in front of us, my eyes wandered.

—Wandered back towards him, only to snap back onto the waterfall seconds later. And wandered again, only to have a handful of words tumble out of my mouth at once.

"Oh my— hold on a minute, would you—?!" I hissed, his fingers previously fumbling with his belt stopping at once as his eyes shot up to mine. "—what are you doing?"

He snorted humorously, rolling his eyes before lifting a brow. "I think it's quite obvious," He mused before the sound of his belt buckle made my eyes divert once more.

"I'm not going skinny dipping with you," I snickered, furrowing my brows at the thought. He huffed in amusement.

"I'm surprised you even know what that is, Amidelle." I didn't have to look at him to picture the smirk on his lips as the words escaped his mouth.

"You'd be surprised," I retorted lowly, a small smile on my lips at the silence that followed my words.

I could hear the creaks of the wooden pier underneath us as he made his way over to me, so I didn't startle when his voice was suddenly so much closer to my ear and when his breath lightly tickled the back of my neck.

"You know how to swim, right?"

My face lit up at the thought, remembering how long it's been since I've been in a pool.

"Yeah, I was actually quite—" The words got stuck in my throat, a scream rippling through it cutting them off before it turned into muffled sounds underwater.

Fully emerged in the surprisingly warm water — white blouse and dark trousers sticking to my body — my eyes squeezed shut in panic and surprise; I felt the sandy ground underneath my feet and pushed myself back up as forcefully as I could.

Gasping for air, eyes wide and wet strands of hair in my face, I tried to orientate myself as best as I could while making sure my arm and leg movements were enough to keep me afloat. I only stopped frantically looking around when my eyes finally latched onto the small wooden pier I was just pushed from;

The only thing on it a pile of clothes.

"Quite what?"

Esmond coming back up himself, he took a deep breath before the words left his mouth. The sound of the surface of the water breaking as he did so making my head snap in the direction.

I tried my best to make the scowl on my face seem believable, knitting my brows together in annoyance as best as I could. Though, with his hair messily sticking to his forehead, only one of his brown eyes visible before he slicked it back with one hand, I couldn't help the corners of my mouth twitching into a smile.

It was only a second before I had them back under control, but it was enough to make him mirror the gesture with a quirked brow.

"Hm?" He followed up, repeating the same question once more. "Quite what?"

"Good," I finished my previously interrupted sentence, squinting when the sun emerged from its spot behind a single, small cloud in the sky. "I was quite good."

A gust of air escaped his mouth, nodding in acknowledgement at the fact. "Was?" He wondered, my eyes flickering down to where our hands accidentally brushed against each other underneath the surface.

"Mhm," I shrugged, swallowing thickly as my eyes jumped back up to his, squinting shut again due to the sun. Instead of continuing to answer his question, I groaned in annoyance, making quick play of swimming around him once to have the sun in my back now.

A mildly bewildered look crept into his features as he watched me, turning with me until he was the one that had to squint. He looked at me with a confused face, asking the question without opening his mouth.

"So I can see you when I talk to you," I clarified nonchalantly, a singular laugh escaping my lips as I watched him squint his eyes shut forcefully.

Though, a smirk played on his lips as soon as the words left my mouth. "You want to see me?" He teased, quirking my brows before I rolled my eyes at him.

"No—" I went to protest, already shaking my head when his hands suddenly found themselves on my shoulders, cupping them as he swiftly turned both himself and me halfway. — the sun to my left now, instead of fully behind either of us.

"Better?"

He looked at me, amusement in his eyes as his hands lingered on my shoulders, feeling his legs kick under the water with more force, now that they were all that was holding him above water.

"Sure."

His face was closer to mine now, single drops of water running down the side of it, as well as dripping off his hair back into the river. A few drops accumulated in his brown, bushy brows, my eyes following one of them running down his face to get caught on his pink lips;

Slightly parted, corners of them curled upwards as he watched me intently take him in. Nothing more than his head poked out of the water, the rest of his body submerged in it from his Adam's apple downwards.

Absentmindedly licking my lips, not quite sure whether it was the sun making my cheeks heat up or my mind, I swallowed thickly, snapping out of it when his hands retracted, and he brought a bit of distance between us.

"Whoever gets to the fall over there first wins," He suddenly blurted out, brows raised in expectation as his eyes flickered over to it. I grimaced at the suggestion.

"What if I don't want to?" Already feeling a little exhausted, the prospect of a race made me want to do nothing more than get out of the water right here and now.

My eyes followed his gaze over to it. It did look beautiful. And I was a little curious what it would look like behind it.

He snorted dryly at my exclaim. "Then that's just an excuse because you're too scared to lose." He revealed with a playful smirk. "Let's be honest; you probably will."

Head snapping back in his direction, I knitted my brows together.

"That's absolutely not true."